A Cityless and Countryless World by Henry Olerich

"But, if each individual keeps his own record of the time he has labored, and the money is issued to him or her according to that time-record, is not an individual tempted to make false entries in his time-book? " asked Rev. Dudley.

"I will tell you, Rev. Dudley; we must always bear in mind that man's conduct, as a whole, always nearly, if not exactly, corresponds to the social and industrial system under which he voluntarily lives. We must take into account the conditions, and his culture. To illustrate this, let us take an example: Cattle, after breaking into a cornfield, sometimes kill themselves by eating too much corn. Some children, as well as some grown people, on certain holidays, eat themselves sick on sweetmeats and other dainties. But neither the people nor the cattle would eat too much, if they always had all they wanted of those eatables. A clerk in a candy store seldom eats candy. So in our kind, rich world, where men and women work less than two hours a day at some choice labor which is almost play, and where their short pleasant day's labor yields, by the aid of economy, co-operation and machinery, a return of more than $10 worth of your purchasing power, the temptation for false entries must indeed be decidedly inconsiderable.